Digitized voice alerts

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems and processor-readable media for providing instant/real-time voice alerts automatically to remote electronic devices. An activity can be detected utilizing one or more sensors. A text message indicative of the activity can be generated and converted into a digitized voice alert. The activity can also be a live utterance (e.g., a live announcement), which can then be instantly converted into a digitized voice alert for automatic delivery in a selected series of languages following the base language (e.g., English). The combined digitized voice alert can then be instantly transmitted through a network for broadcast of consecutive alerts (e.g., English followed by Spanish followed by Vietnamese, etc.) to one or more remote electronic devices that communicate with the network for an automatic audio announcement of the digitized voice alert through the one or more remote electronic devices.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/822,600 entitled “Digitized Voice Alerts,” which was filedon Nov. 11, 2017, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/822,600is in turn a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/224,930, entitled “Digitized Voice Alerts,” which was filed on Aug.1, 2016 and which is also incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/224,930 is in turn acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/633,709, entitled“Voice Alert Methods and Systems,” which was filed on Feb. 27, 2015 andwhich is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/633,709 is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/361,409, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/361,409is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/324,118, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entiretyand which was filed on Dec. 13, 2011. U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/324,118 claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/489,621, which was filed on May 24,2011 and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Thispatent application therefore claims the benefit of and priority to U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/489,621, filed on May 24, 2011.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments are generally related to the provision of instant voicealerts sent automatically to remote electronic devices such as cellulartelephones, computers, Smartphones, tablet computing devices,televisions, remote electronic devices in automobiles, etc. Embodimentsare also related to wireless communications networks such as cellulartelephone networks and wireless LAN type networks. Embodiments areadditionally related to emergency services and security monitoring ofresidences, businesses, and government and military facilities.

BACKGROUND

In today's highly mobile society, there are increasing numbers of peoplewho work at locations other than their homes or who are away from homelong periods of time. There are also a growing number of people who haveelderly parents living alone. Additionally, there are also manybusinesses, enterprises, government agencies, and so forth with offices,buildings, and other facilities that require constant monitoring,particularly during times when no one is available on-site. Finally,many emergency situations are such that immediate and quick notificationto the public of such emergencies will save lives and resources.

Accordingly, a need exists for an improved and efficient approach fortransmitting or broadcasting instant voice alerts to remote electronicdevices automatically during times of emergencies or as a part ofsecurity monitoring systems.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of someof the innovative features unique to the disclosed embodiment and is notintended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the variousaspects of the embodiments disclosed herein can be gained by taking theentire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.

It is, therefore, one aspect of the disclosed embodiments to provide forthe transmission of instant voice alerts automatically to remoteelectronic devices such as, for example, cellular telephones, computers,Smartphones, tablet computing devices, televisions, remote electronicdevices in automobiles, etc.

It is another aspect of the disclosed embodiments to provide fortext-to-voice alerts to be transmitted instantly and automatically toremote electronic devices such as, for example, cellular telephones,computers, Smartphones, tablet computing devices, televisions, remoteelectronic devices in automobiles, etc.

It is yet another aspect of the disclosed embodiments to providemethods, systems and processor-readable media for the generation andconversion of alerts from text messages to synthesized speech to beinstantly and automatically transmitted as instant voice alerts toremote electronic devices.

The aforementioned aspects and other objectives and advantages can nowbe achieved as described herein. Methods, systems and processor-readablemedia are disclosed for automatically providing instant voice alerts toremote electronic devices. In some embodiments, an activity can bedetected utilizing one or more sensors. A text message indicative of theactivity can be generated and converted into a digitized voice alert.The digitized voice alert can then be transmitted through a network forbroadcast to one or more remote electronic devices that communicate withthe network for an automatic audio announcement of the digitized voicealert through the one or more remote electronic devices. Note that an“activity” as utilized herein may be, for example, any number ofdifferent actions or events. In the context of a homesecurity/monitoring system, a security sensor may detect that a door hasopened while the occupants of the home are away. The opening of the doorwould constitute an “activity”. In other situations, a live utterancesuch as a live speech given by, for example, the President of the UnitedStates, could constitute as an “activity” as discussed in more detailherein.

In some embodiments, the digitized voice message can be instantly andautomatically broadcast through the one or more remote electronicdevices in one or more languages based on a language setting in a userprofile. In some embodiments, the one or more languages can bepre-selected in the user profile (e.g., during a set-up of theuser-profile or during changes to the users profile). In someembodiments, the user profile can be established as a user preferencevia a server during a set up (or at a later time) of the one or moreremote electronic devices. In other embodiments, the user profile can beestablished as a user preference via an intelligent router during a setup of the one or more remote electronic devices. In other embodiments,during a set up of the one or more remote electronic devices, the one ormore languages can be selected from a plurality of different languages.In still other embodiments, the digitized voice message can be convertedinto the particular language specified by the remote electronicdevice(s). In yet other embodiments, digitized voice message can beconverted into more than one language from among a plurality oflanguages for broadcast of the digitized voice alert in consecutivelydifferent languages through the one or more remote electronic devices.

Methods, systems and processor-readable media are also disclosed forautomatically providing instant voice alerts to remote electronicdevices from incidents detected within a security system (e.g., asecurity system, a military security monitoring system, anenterprise/business building security monitoring system, etc). Awireless data network can be provided, which includes one or moresensors that communicate with the wireless data network within alocation (e.g., a residence, building, business, government facility,military facility, etc). An activity can be detected utilizing one ormore sensors associated with the location. A text message indicative ofthe activity can be generated and converted into a digitized voicealert. The digitized voice alert can be transmitted through a networkfor broadcast to one or more electronic devices that communicate withthe network for an automatic audio announcement of the digitized voicealert through the remote electronic devices (e.g. a speaker associatedwith or integrated with such devices).

Methods, systems and processor-readable media are also disclosed forproviding emergency voice alerts to wireless hand held device users in aspecified region. An emergency situation can be detected affecting aspecified region and requiring emergency notification of the emergencyto wireless hand held device users in the specified region. A textmessage indicative of the emergency situation can be generated andconverted into a digitized voice alert. The digitized voice alert can betransmitted through specific towers of a cellular communications networkin the specified region for distribution of an automatic audioannouncement of the digitized voice alert to all remote electronicdevices in communication with the specific towers in the specifiedregion.

Method, systems and processor-readable media are also disclosed forproviding an instant voice announcement automatically to remoteelectronic devices. In such an approach, a live announcement (e.g., anannouncement from the President) can be captured and then automaticallyconverted into a digitized voice message indicative of the liveannouncement. The digitized voice message can be associated with a textmessage to be transmitted through a network to a plurality of remoteelectronic devices that communicate with the network. The text messagewith the digitized voice message can be transmitted through a network(e.g., cellular communications network, the Internet, etc.) forbroadcast to the plurality of electronic devices for automatic playbackof the digitized voice message through one or more remote electronicdevices among the plurality of remote electronic devices upon receipt ofthe text message with the digitized voice message at the one or moreremote electronic devices among the plurality of remote electronicdevices.

In some embodiments, a current call taking place at one or more of theremote electronic devices can be automatically interrupted in order topush the text message with the digitized voice message through to eachof the plurality of remote electronic devices for automatic playing ofthe digitized voice message via a remote electronic device. In otherembodiments, operations can be implemented for automatically opening thedigitized voice message, in response to receipt of the text message withthe digitized voice message at the one or more remote electronic devicesamong the plurality of remote electronic devices, and automaticallyplaying the digitized voice message through a speaker associated withthe one or more remote electronic devices in response to automaticallyopening the digitized voice message.

In other embodiments, the identity of the speaker associated with thelive announcement can be authenticated prior to automatically convertingthe live announcement into the digitized voice message indicative of thelive announcement. In some embodiments, authentication of the speaker(e.g., the President or other official) can be authenticated utilizing avoice recognition engine. In still other embodiments, the digitizedvoice message can be broadcast through the one or more remote electronicdevices in one or more languages based on a language setting in a userprofile. As indicated previously, one or more languages can bepre-selected in the user profile. Additionally, the user profile can beestablished in some embodiments as a user preference via a server duringa set up of one or more of the remote electronic devices. In someembodiments, the user profile can be established as a user preferencevia an intelligent router during a set up of the one or more remoteelectronic device. In other embodiments, during a set up of the one ormore remote electronic devices, one or more languages can be selectedfrom a plurality of different languages. In yet another embodiment thedigitized voice message (e.g., an announcement from the President) canbe converted into more than one language from among a plurality oflanguages for broadcast of the digitized voice alert in consecutivelydifferent languages through the one or more remote electronic devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally-similar elements throughout the separate viewsand which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification,further illustrate the present invention and, together with the detaileddescription herein, serve to explain the principles of the disclosedembodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a first exemplary schematic/flow chart in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a second exemplary schematic/flow chart in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIGS. 3(a) to 3(d) illustrate exemplary screen shots of a user interfacein accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method for automatically providing instant voicealerts to remote electronic devices, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method for automatically providing instant voicealerts to remote electronic devices regarding incidents detected by asecurity system, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method for automatically providing instantemergency voice alerts to wireless hand held device users in a specifiedregion, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a system for automaticallyproviding instant voice alerts to remote electronic devices, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a system for automaticallyproviding instant voice alerts to remote electronic devices fromincidents detected within a security system, in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of a system for automaticallyproviding emergency instant voice alerts to wireless hand held deviceusers in a specified region, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium thatcan store code representing instructions to cause a processor to performa process to, for example, provide automatic and instant voice alerts toremote electronic devices, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium thatcan store code representing instructions to cause a processor to, forexample, perform a process to automatically provide instant voice alertsto remote electronic devices from incidents detected within a securitysystem, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium thatcan store code representing instructions to cause a processor toperform, for example, a process to automatically provide instantemergency voice alerts to wireless hand held device users in a specifiedregion, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of a system for providing automaticand instant voice alerts through a network, in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 14 illustrates a high-level flow chart of logical operations forproviding automatic and instant digitized voice alerts, and convertingsuch digitized voice alerts into more than one language for broadcast ofthe digitized voice alert in consecutively different languages throughone or more remote electronic devices, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 15 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 16 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 17 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 18 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 19 illustrates a block diagram of a system for providing an instantvoice announcement automatically to remote electronic devices, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium forproviding an instant voice announcement automatically to remoteelectronic devices, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary data processing system which may beincluded in devices operating in accordance with some embodiments; and

FIG. 22 illustrates an exemplary environment for operations and devicesaccording to some embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The particular values and configurations discussed in these non-limitingexamples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate at least oneembodiment and are not intended to limit the scope thereof.

The embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which illustrative are shown.The embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied in many different formsand should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forthherein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosurewill be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of theinvention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to likeelements throughout. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any andall combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosedembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which disclosed embodiments belong. Itwill be further understood that terms such as those defined in commonlyused dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art andwill not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unlessexpressly so defined herein.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the present inventioncan be embodied as a method, system, and/or a processor-readable medium.Accordingly, the embodiments may take the form of an entire hardwareapplication, an entire software embodiment or an embodiment combiningsoftware and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a“circuit” or “module.” Furthermore, the embodiments may take the form ofa computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium havingcomputer-usable program code embodied in the medium. Any suitablecomputer-readable medium or processor-readable medium may be utilizedincluding, for example, but not limited to, hard disks, USB FlashDrives, DVDs, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storagedevices, etc.

Computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosedembodiments may be written in an object oriented programming language(e.g., Java, C++, etc.). The computer program code, however, forcarrying out operations of the disclosed embodiments may also be writtenin conventional procedural programming languages such as the “C”programming language, HTML, XML, etc., or in a visually orientedprogramming environment such as, for example, VisualBasic.

The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly onthe user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on theuser's computer and partly on a remote computer, or entirely on theremote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to a user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), wireless data network e.g., WiFi, Wimax,802.xx, and cellular network or the connection may be made to anexternal computer via most third party supported networks (for example,through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

The disclosed embodiments are described in part below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems,computer program products, and data structures according to embodimentsof the invention. It will be understood that each block of theillustrations, and combinations of blocks, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memoryproduce an article of manufacture including instruction means whichimplement the function/act specified in the block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe block or blocks.

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a system 200 according to embodimentsof the present invention. System 200 broadly includes a server 205 orcentral computer, web service tool 210, runtime tool 215, voicerecognition engine 220, text-to-speech engine 225 and one or moredatabases 230. The server 205 may include each of the web service tool210, runtime tool 215, voice recognition engine 220, text-to-speechengine 225, and one or more database 230. Alternatively, one or more ofthe web service tool 210, runtime application 215, voice recognitionengine 220, text-to-speech engine 225, and one or more databases 230 maybe remote and in communication with the server 205 or central computer.The server 205 may be remote and in communication with the server 205 orcentral computer.

Note that as utilized herein the term “server” (e.g., server 205 shownin FIG. 1, server 231 shown in FIG. 13, etc.) refers generally to one ofthree possible implementations or combinations thereof. First, theserver can be a computer program running as a service to serve the needsor requests of other programs (referred to in this context as “clients”)which may or may not be running on the same computer. Second, the servercan be a physical computer dedicated to running one or more suchservices to serve the needs of programs running on other computers onthe same network. Finally, a server can be a software/hardware system(i.e. a software service running on a dedicated computer) such as adatabase server, file server, mail server, enterprise server, printserver, etc.

In some embodiments, the server can be a program that operates as asocket listener. In other embodiments, a server can be a host that isdeployed to execute one or more such programs. In still otherembodiments, the server can be a server computer implemented as a singlecomputer or a series of computers that link other computers orelectronic devices together. Such a server implementation can provideessential services across a network, either to private users inside alarge organization (e.g., Intranet) or to public users via the internet.For example, when one enters a query in a search engine, the query issent from a user's computer over the internet to the servers that storeall the relevant web pages. The results are sent back by the server tothe user's computer.

The server 205 can communicate with one or more substantially, real-timeservices 235 being operated by any number of entities such as, forexample, security companies (e.g., Sonitrol, Brinks, etc) or governmentagencies (e.g., U.S. Department of Homeland Security, governmentcontractors, etc.) operating, for example, particular web sites. In someembodiment, the services or informational feed 235 may include websitesoffered by government agencies such as the Homeland Security Department,local 911 organizations, private companies or non-profit agencies, FEMA(Federal Emergency Management Agency) and so forth. As shown in FIG. 1,these services can provide information via, for example, Feed 1, Feed 2,Feed 3 and so forth. In some embodiments, Feed 1 may provide a series ofemergency announcements. Feed 2 may provide, for example, informationrelated to construction on highways in a particular geographical region,whereas Feed 3 may provide updated weather information in a particulararea.

In practice, as depicted in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a user 240 can initiallymake a request 242 for specific and/or general voice alerts (e.g., textto voice) and/or other information via an electronic remote device suchas a smartphone 199, 201, a tablet 202, television 203, or automobileBluetooth® type system 204. In one embodiment, the user can make therequest 242 in a text format guided by prompts or a template displayedon, for example, a display of smartphone 199, 201, tablet 202, etc.

FIGS. 3(a) to 3(d) illustrate exemplary screen shots of such prompts.FIG. 3(a), for example, depicts a home screen shot 105 comprising a listof topical icons from which the user may select using various userinterfaces including touch screen display, trackball, buttons, and thelike. Four selectable icons 106, 107, 108, 109, and 110 are shown inFIG. 3(a).

A user can select one of the icons 106, 107, 108, 109 and 110. If a userselects icon 106, for example, the user will tap into an emergencyinformational feed. The user would then be taken to other screens whichwould allow a user to set up an emergency informational feed that isultimately fed to his or her device (e.g., Smartphones 199, 201, tablet202, automobile 204, etc.) and provided according to particularpreselected criteria in the form of text-to-voice informationalemergency announcements. Similarly, if a user selects icon 107, the userwill tap into a weather informational feed that use preselects and isagain provided with particular voice alerts (e.g., text-to-voice)regarding important weather announcements. Road condition voice alertscan also be provided by selecting, for example, icon 108. A user canadditionally configure text-to-voice alerts with respect to his or herbusiness or home, as shown by selectable icons 109 and 110.

FIG. 3(b) depicts a residential screen shot 115 responsive to the userselecting “Home” in accordance with an embodiment. In the example screenshot 115 shown in FIG. 3(b), assuming the user has selected icon 110(“Home”) shown in FIG. 3(a), the user would see next the screen shot 115and one or more icons 116, 117, 118, 119 respectively labeled, forexample, Sensor 1, Sensor 2, Sensor 3, and Sensor 4. Such sensor iconsare associated with, for example, sensors (e.g., security/surveillancesensors, smoke detectors, fire detectors, carbon monoxide detectors,energy usage monitoring, etc.) located in for example, a residence of auser. In this case, the user can select each sensor and set up voicealerts (e.g., text-to-voice) related to particular conditions oractivities that such sensors may detect. For example, if a sensordetects that a particular window in a user's home opens while the useris away, information related to this condition will be transmitted as atext-to-voice alert to the user's device (e.g., smartphone, automobile,tablet computer, etc.).

FIG. 3(c) depicts a screen shot 120 that includes example icons 121,122, 123. The user can select particular conditions to monitor in thehouse. For example, selection of condition 1 may be the temperatureinside the house or a particular zone of the house. Condition 2 may be,for example, energy usage monitored by an energy usage sensor in thehouse. The user may also set how often the user wishes to receiveupdates.

FIG. 3(d) depicts a screen shot 125 responsive to a user selecting, forexample, an update (i.e., icon 123 in FIG. 3(c)). The screen shot 125depicts available time frames 126 for which the user may receivesubstantially real-time alerts. Thus, a user can select how often thesubstantially, real-time alerts or other informational alerts arereceived.

In another embodiment, the user may make a live voice request for aspecific voice alert information. In this embodiment, a voicerecognition engine 220 is responsible for converting a live voice orverbal command or input into text. In one embodiment, the text may be inthe form of XML or another appropriate language. In another embodiment,the text can be a proprietary language. The XML or other programming ormark-up language can provide a communications protocol between the userand the server 205, namely the web service tool 210. The web servicetool 210 can act as the gate keeper for the system 200 and authenticatesthe request 244. This authentication process can determine whether ornot the request emanates from a device registered or otherwise permittedto make the request. For example, the user may need to input a pin orcode, which would then be authenticated by the web service tool 210. Ifthe request is not authenticated, an error message 246 can betransmitted to the user 240 via the device. Optionally, instructions onremedying the underlying basis for the error response can also betransmitted to the device.

Once authenticated, the request type can be checked (e.g., text orvoice/verbal 248. If verbal, the web service tool 210 can transmit thelive voice request to the voice recognition engine 220, which isconfigured to convert the voice request into a text request 250.Optionally, the voice request can be saved into an audio file prior tobeing serviced by the voice recognition engine 220. It can beappreciated that a number of different types of voice recognitionengines, including proprietary engines, are suitable for the embodimentsdiscussed herein. For example, a live voice or verbal request in theform “Need voice alert for residence” may be converted to “ResidenceAlert” or similar text containing the required terms to locate thedesired information. In another example, a verbal request in the form of“How do I set up voice alerts?” may be converted to “Set Voice Alert” tolocate the desired information.

The system 200 may also teach users how to best phrase verbal requeststo most efficiently allow the system 200 to locate the desiredinformation. For example, in one embodiment, after downloadingapplication software from, for example, a server, users can be providedwith access to a tutorial or similar feature which assists users inphrasing verbal requests directed to, for example, particular types ofalerts such as, for example, emergency alerts, weather, business alerts,alerts based on home sensors (entry sensors, smoke detectors, firedetectors, carbon monoxide detectors, energy usage, etc.). Any improperverbal request (e.g., not enough information to identify desiredinformation or improper format) may be met with a general error messageor specific error message detailing required information necessary toidentify the desired information.

Once represented desired types of information is converted into text,the request is unpacked 252 and handed to a runtime application 215. Theruntime application 215 can be an executable program which handlesvarious functions associated with system 200 as described herein. Theruntime application 215 can be, for example, code comprisinginstructions to perform particular steps or operations of a process.

Initially, based on the converted text request, the runtime application215 can make a request 254 to the one or more substantially, real-timefeeds 235. The request to one or more feeds 235 can result in theruntime application 215 obtaining a key corresponding to the request.That is, the one or more feeds 235 can assign keys to each source ofdesired information which is being tracked. Once the key is obtained,the runtime application 215 can cause the request and the key to bestored as shown as block 256 in one or more databases 230 therebylinking the device to the feed 235 within the one or more databases 230.

The one or more databases 230 can maintain each user's profile ofdesired alert information. Accordingly, users can track, if desired,multiple types of information via the system 200. In one embodiment, theruntime application 215 can queue, for example, emergency informationrelated to multiple requests to be transmitted to the user to preventany interruption thereof. Once the key is obtained and it is determinedthat, for example, a particular emergency or a particular activity is inprogress, the one or more databases 230 can maintain a correspondingrequest as active.

Should information relating to a particular emergency or activity nolonger be needed because the particular emergency or particular activityhas ended (e.g., tornado activity in a particular region has ended), theone or more databases 230 stores the key and maintains the request astemporarily active until a particular status (e.g., tornado activity isconfirmed over or tornado activity has resumed) may be transmitted tothe user. Responsive to final information being transmitted to the user,the temporary active status can be changed to inactive.

The runtime application 215 can be configured to poll the one or moredatabases 230 to determine the status of each request. Any inactiverequest (e.g., tornado activity has ended and it is now safe to gooutside) can be removed from the one or more databases 230 by theruntime application 215. To alleviate backlog, the one or more databases230 may link multiple users with the same active key when those multipleusers have requested the same type of alert information (e.g., tornados,weather, national alerts, Homeland Security alerts, information fromhome sensors, etc.).

Text requests can be unpacked 252 and handed directly to the runtimeapplication 215. From that point, the process is similar to the verbalrequests converted to text as described above.

The open communication linked between the database 230 and informationfeed 235 can provide a conduit for the requested information to betransmitted to the one or more databases 230 at any desired interval.For example, if the users have selected alert information every 30minutes, the runtime application 215 determines that the request isactive every 30 minutes by polling one or more databases 230. Pollingcan occur at any necessary interval, including continuously, to allowall users to receive alerts at the users-selected time period. Ifactive, the runtime application 215 can pull, grab or obtain the desiredsubstantially, real-time alert information from the feed 235 (orinformation may be pushed from the feed 235) using the previouslyobtained key and transmits the alert information to the one or moredatabases 230 and eventually to the user as described. The alertinformation can be stored in the one or more databases 230 either longterm or short term depending on the needs of the operator of system 200and its users.

Once obtained from the feed 235, a text file can be handed to thetext-to-speech engine 225 depicted in FIG. 1. One example of atext-to-speech engine (and also speech-to-text) of the type suitable forone or more of the disclosed embodiments is disclosed in U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2011/0111805, entitled “Synthesized AudioMessage Over Communication Links,” which published on May 12, 2011 toBaptiste P. Paquier, et al. and is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Another example of a text-to-speech approach that can beadapted for use in accordance with one or more embodiments is disclosedin U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0313020, entitled“Text-to-Speech User Interface Control,” which published on Dec. 17,2009 to Rami Arto Koivunen, and is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Another example of a text-to-speech or of text-to-speechengine (and also speech-to-text) of the type (or features thereof)suitable for use with one or more of the disclosed embodiments isdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,885,817 entitled “Easy Generation andAutomatic Training of Spoken Dialog Systems Using Text-to-Speech,” whichissued to Paek et al. on Feb. 8, 2011 and is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that other text-to-speechengines and applications, including proprietary engines and approaches,are suitable for use with the embodiments. A text file containing theemergency or other alert information can be converted into an audio filesuch as, for example, a MP3 or similar audio file.

In general, the text-to-speech (also text-to-voice) engine 225 discussedherein can be implemented with natural speech features to voice so“robotic voice” text to speech synthesis, which is important forbroadcasting or sending voice alerts in more “human” type voice audio,which is more receptive to listeners than the more “robotic voice”text-to-speech applications. Using a more natural soundingtext-to-speech engine for engine 225 ensures that voice alerts areactually heard by listeners, which is particularly important duringemergency situations.

It can be appreciated that the text-to-speech engine 225 can beconfigured to offer text-to-speech conversion in multiple languages.Such a text-to-speech engine 225 can also be configured to convert thedigitized voice message into more than one language from among aplurality of languages for broadcast of the digitized voice alert inconsecutively different languages through the remote electronic devices(e.g., devices 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204). An example of atext-to-speech application that can be adapted for use withtext-to-speech engine 225 discussed herein is “Orpheus,” a multilingualtext-to-speech synthesizer from Meridian One for Laptop, Notebook andDesktop computers running Microsoft Windows Windows 7, Vista orMicrosoft Windows XP. Orpheus is available as Orpheus TTS Plus orOrpheus TTS. Orpheus TTS plus and Orpheus TTS speaks 25 languages withsynthetic voices capable of high intelligibility at the fastest talkingrates. Orpheus TTS Plus adds natural sounding voices for UK English, USEnglish and Swedish. Another example of a “natural language sound”approach that can be utilized with text-to-speech engine 225 isdisclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0268539entitled “System and Method for Distributed Text-to-Speech Synthesis andIntelligibility,” which was published on Oct. 21, 2010 to Xu et al., andis incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The audio file can then be transmitted to devices such as, for example,devices 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, etc. In one embodiment, the applicationsoftware causes the audio file to automatically play upon receipt by thedevice. In this manner, users can receive automatic alert-relatedinformation in substantially real-time based on user-selectedparameters. In another embodiment, the text file can be transmitted tothe device in the form of a text or an instant message without the needfor converting the text file to an audio file. In this embodiment,runtime application 215 can send the text alert to the user device, andthe text alert can be converted to a voice alert (i.e., text-to-voicealert) at the device itself.

In another embodiment, a community of users can receive substantially,real-time alert information. In such an embodiment, users simplyidentify particular desired information (e.g., emergency announcements,weather, road conditions, road construction, etc.) and become part of acommunity or other users interested in receiving substantially,real-time alert related information alerts in text and/or audio format.For example, users belonging to a community interested in emergencyannouncements receive the same substantially, real-time alerts. Defaultsettings may be used with this particular embodiments such that eachuser receives alerts at the same time over the same staggered timeperiod (e.g., once an hour, every thirty minutes, once per day, etc.).Single users may also utilize default settings without joining acommunity of users. Users wanting a different scheme can customize thealerts as shown via the example screen shots illustrated in FIGS.3(a)-3(d).

In another embodiment, the system 200 can be configured to allow a userto send a message to a social media account (e.g., Twitter®, Facebook®,etc.) along with an attachment with an audio message from the user. Inanother embodiment, the user may send an alert to one or more friendswith an audio message (e.g., tornados in southwest Kansas, watch out!).In this embodiment, the system 200 may prompt the user and/or a homepage may depict an icon which allows the user to verbalize a message fordelivery to one or more intended recipients along with an alert. Thevoice recognition engine 220 can generate an audio file representing theuser's message, which can be an actual voice or computer-generatedvoice, into an audio file and store the audio file in the one or moredatabases 230 linking it to the other user's remote electronic device.System 200 can then transmit the audio file along with the alert (oranother alert) to one or more intended recipients via a social mediaaccount.

The intended recipients may be stored by the system 200 previously, ormay be inputted at the time the message is to be sent. In oneembodiment, the user is able to select from a list of friendsestablished within the application software by the user. Once a voice orverbal personal message is created, the personal message can be savedin, for example, database 230 and linked to the user. When the runtimeapplication 215 next communicates with the database 230, the alert (orother information) can be transmitted along with the personal message.

FIG. 4 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method 400 for automatically providing instantvoice alerts to remote electronic devices, in accordance with anembodiment. As indicated at block 402, the process can be initiated.Thereafter, as illustrated at block 404, an activity can be detectedutilizing one or more sensors. Then, as indicated at block 406, a textmessaged indicative of such activity can be generated. For example, amessage indicating that a particular sensor has determined that thebackdoor of a particular house has been opened would generate textstating “Backdoor is open”. Following the generation of such text,typically in the form of a text message or other appropriate text datafile, such a text message can be converted as depicted at block 408 intoa digitized voice alert via, for example, the text-to-speech recognitionengine 225 shown in FIG. 1.

Following the processing of the operation shown at block 408, a test canbe performed as indicated at block 410 to determine if the digitizedvoice message should be broadcast in another language. For example, ifit is determined that the voice alert should be broadcasted in anotherlanguage (e.g., following broadcast of the message in the initiallanguage), then as described at block 411, the digitized voice messagecan be converted into a pre-selected or specified language and then asindicated at block 412 transmitted through a network (e.g., network 501shown in FIG. 13) for broadcast to one or more electronic devices whichcommunicate with such a network for automatic audio announcement of thedigitized voice alert (e.g., in one or multiple languages) through theremote electronic device (e.g., a speaker integrated with a Smartphone).If, however, it is determined that conversion of the digitized voicemessage to another language is not necessary, then the digitized voicemessage is transmitted in the original language through the network(e.g., network 501 shown in FIG. 13) for broadcast to one or more remoteelectronic devices that communicate with the network for the playing ofthe automatic audio announcement (e.g., voice alert) through the remoteelectronic device(s). The process can then terminate, as indicated atblock 414.

In some embodiments, the aforementioned digitized voice message can bebroadcast through the one or more remote electronic devices in one ormore languages based on a language setting in a user profile. The one ormore languages can be pre-selected in the user profile. In otherembodiments, the user profile can be established as a user preferencevia a service during a set up of the one or more remote electronicdevices. The user profile can, in some embodiments, be established as auser preference via an intelligent router during a set up of the one ormore remote electronic devices. In some embodiments, during a set up ofthe one or more remote electronic devices, the one or more languages canbe selected from a plurality of different languages.

In general, the digitized voice message can be converted into theparticular language specified by a user via the one or more remoteelectronic devices. The disclosed embodiments, including the methods,systems and processor-readable media discussed herein, when implemented,will vocalize, for example, regional, national, government,presidential, and other alerts instantly and automatically and invarious languages which would automatically follow the base language(e.g., English in the United States, Spanish in Mexico, French inFrance, etc.) utterance.

Note that in some embodiments, the aforementioned one or more sensorscan communicate with a server that communicates with the network (e.g.,network 501 shown in FIG. 13). In other embodiments, the one or moresensors can communicate with an intelligent router (e.g., a server, apacket router, etc.) that communicates with the network. One example ofan intelligent router, which can be utilized in accordance with anembodiment, is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2010/0226259, entitled “Intelligent Router for Wireless Sensor Network,”which published to Desmond, et al. on Sep. 9, 2010 and is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. Another example of an intelligentrouter that can be implemented in accordance with the disclosedembodiments is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No.2010/0260061, entitled “System and Method for Remote Control of LocalDevices Over a Wide Area Network,” which was published to Bojahra et alon Oct. 24, 2010 and is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. It can be appreciated that other types of intelligent routers(e.g., intelligent or smart wireless routers) can be implemented inaccordance with an embodiment. Examples of intelligent routers 233, 235are shown in FIG. 13.

In yet other embodiments, the sensor or sensors (e.g., a group ofnetworked sensors) can communicate with the one or more sensors throughthe network. In other embodiments, each of the one or more sensors cancomprise a self-contained computer that communicates with the network(e.g., network 501 shown in FIG. 13). Note that such sensors can belocated in, for example, a residence, a business, enterprise, agovernment entity (e.g., a secure facility, military base, etc.) and soforth.

FIG. 5 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method 420 for automatically providing instantvoice alerts to remote electronic devices from incidents detected withina security system, in accordance with an embodiment. As indicated atblock 422, the process can be initiated. Thereafter, as illustrated atblock 424, a wireless data network can be provided which includes and/orcommunicates with one or more of the sensors in communication with thewireless data network (e.g., network 501 shown in FIG. 13). The sensorscan be located within, for example, a residence, a building, governmentagency, secure military facility, etc. Next, as depicted at block 426,the one or more sensors in and/or associated with the residence candetect an activity (e.g., window opens, door opens, smoke detected,etc.).

Assuming that the sensor or sensors detect an activity, then asillustrated at block 428, a text message can be generated, which isindicative of the activity (e.g., “Smoke Detected in Living Room”).Thereafter, as illustrated at block 430, the text message can beconverted into a digitized voice alert via, for example, thetext-to-speech engine 225 shown in FIG. 1. Next, as depicted at block432, the digitized voice alert can be transmitted through a network(e.g., a cellular communications network) for broadcast to one or moreremote electronic devices that communicate with the network for anautomatic audio announcement of the digitized voice alert through theone or more remote electronic devices (e.g., a speaker integrated with aSmartphone, laptop computer, automobile, etc.). Note that theaforementioned operations involving language pre-selection, languageconversion, etc., shown in FIG. 4 can be adapted for use with themethodology shown in FIG. 5. The process shown in FIG. 5 can thenterminate, as depicted at block 434.

FIG. 6 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method 440 for providing automatic and instantemergency voice alerts to wireless hand held device users in a specifiedregion, in accordance with an embodiment. The method 440 provides for aninstant automatic delivery of a voice alert to one or more remoteelectronic devices via a network such as, for example, network 501discussed herein. Method 440 takes into account several scenarios. Thefirst scenario involves those who are unable to look at their instanttext alert such as when driving, or otherwise unable so as not to bedistracted. This is not possible with the current PLAN (e.g., seedescription of PLAN in greater detail herein), which sends text only towireless carriers, whereas, with the approach of the disclosedembodiments, users can hear the message without doing anything. They canhear the voice alert in sequential languages, also without doinganything, as described further herein. Second, the disclosedembodiments, such as that of method 440, handle the situation of thosethat are without a phone, who are reading the TEXT on their computers,and so forth. Such individuals are now be able to HEAR the PLAN Alertvia an approach such as that of method 440. They can hear the voicealert without doing anything, and also indicated herein, hear the voicealert in sequential languages without doing anything. Additionally, alive utterance (e.g., announcement) can be instantly converted into adigitized voice alert for automatic delivery in the manner as indicatedabove, and also in the manner described herein with respect to, forexample, the methodology of FIGS. 14-15.

As indicated at block 442, the process can be initiated. Next, asdescribed at block 444, an operation can be implemented for determiningan emergency situation affecting a specified region and requiringemergency notification of the emergency to wireless hand held deviceusers in the specified region. Thereafter, as illustrated at block 446,a step can be implemented for generating a text message indicative ofthe emergency situation (e.g., “Flooding, Leave to Higher Ground!”).Then, as indicated at block 448, an operation can be implemented forconverting a text message indicative of the emergency situation into adigitized voice alert (e.g., text-to-voice). The conversion operationdepicted at block 448 can be provided by, for example, thetext-to-speech engine 225 shown in FIG. 1.

Following the processing of the operation shown at block 448, thedigitized voice alert can be transmitted, as depicted at block 450,through specific towers of a cellular communication network (e.g.,network 501 shown in FIG. 13) in the specified region for distribution,as shown next at block 452, of an automatic audio announcement of thedigitized voice alert to all remote electronic devices in communicationwith the specific towers in the specified region. Note that theaforementioned operations involving language pre-selection, languageconversion, etc. shown in FIG. 4 can be adapted for use with themethodology shown in FIG. 6. The process shown in FIG. 6 can thenterminate, as depicted at block 454.

Note that the instructions described herein such as, for example, theoperations/instructions depicted in FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 14, 15, and 16, andany other processes described herein (e.g., processes shown in FIGS.1-2) can be implemented in the context of hardware and/or software. Inthe context of software, such operations/instructions of the methodsdescribed herein can be implemented as, for example, computer-executableinstructions such as program modules being executed by a single computeror a group of computers or other processors and processing devices. Inmost instances, a “module” constitutes a software application.

Generally, program modules include, but are not limited to, routines,subroutines, software applications, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types and instructions. Moreover, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that the disclosed method and system may be practicedwith other computer system configurations such as, for example,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, data networks,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, networkedPCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, servers, and the like.

Note that the term module as utilized herein may refer to a collectionof routines and data structures that perform a particular task orimplements a particular abstract data type. Modules may be composed oftwo parts: an interface, which lists the constants, data types,variable, and routines that can be accessed by other modules orroutines, and an implementation, which is typically private (accessibleonly to that module) and which includes source code that actuallyimplements the routines in the module. The term module may also simplyrefer to an application such as a computer program designed to assist inthe performance of a specific task such as word processing, accounting,inventory management, etc. Additionally, the term “module” can alsorefer in some instances to a hardware component such as a computer chipor other hardware.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a system 490 for automaticallyproviding instant voice alerts to remote electronic devices, inaccordance with an embodiment. In general, system 490 includes aprocessor 480 and a data bus 481 coupled to the processor 480. System490 can also include a computer-usable medium 482 embodying, forexample, computer code (e.g., in the form of a software module or groupof software modules). The computer-usable medium 482 is generallycoupled to or can communicate with the data bus 481. The computerprogram code or module 484 can be configured to comprise instructionsexecutable by the processor and configured for implementing, forexample, the method 400 described above. Such a method 400 can includedetecting an activity utilizing at least one sensor, generating andconverting a text message indicative of the activity into a digitizedvoice alert; and transmitting the digitized voice alert through anetwork (e.g., network 501 shown in FIG. 13) for broadcast to one ormore remote electronic devices that communicate with the network for anautomatic audio announcement of the digitized voice alert through theone or more remote electronic devices.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a system 492 for automaticallyproviding instant voice alerts to remote electronic devices fromincidents detected within a security system, in accordance with anembodiment. In general, system 492 includes a processor 480 and a databus 481 coupled to the processor 480. The system 492 can also include acomputer-usable medium 482 embodying, for example, computer code (e.g.,in the form of a module or group of modules). The computer-usable medium482 is also generally coupled to or in communication with the data bus481. The computer program code or module 484 can be configured tocomprise instructions executable by the processor and configured forimplementing, for example, the method 420 described above. Such a method420 can include, for example, providing a wireless data network (e.g., acellular network, a WLAN, etc.) including one or more sensors incommunication with the wireless data network within a location (e.g.,residence, building, military facility, government location, etc);detecting an activity utilizing one or more sensors associated with thelocation; generating and converting a text message indicative of theactivity into a digitized voice alert; and transmitting the digitizedvoice alert through a network (e.g., network 501 shown in FIG. 13) forbroadcast to one or more remote electronic devices that communicate withthe network (e.g., network 501) for an automatic audio announcement ofthe digitized voice alert through the remote electronic device(s).

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of a system 494 for automaticallyproviding instant emergency voice alerts to wireless hand held deviceusers in a specified region, in accordance with an embodiment. Ingeneral, system 494 includes a processor 480 and a data bus 481 coupledto the processor 480. The system 492 can also include a computer-usablemedium 482 embodying, for example, computer code (e.g., in the form of amodule or group of modules). The computer-usable medium 482 is alsogenerally coupled to or in communication with the data bus 481. Thecomputer program code or module 484 can be configured to compriseinstructions executable by the processor and configured forimplementing, for example, the method 440 described above. Such a method440 can include, for example, determining an emergency situationaffecting a specified region and requiring emergency notification of theemergency to wireless hand held device users in the specified region;generating and converting a text message indicative of the emergencysituation into a digitized voice alert; and transmitting the digitizedvoice alert through specific towers of a cellular communications networkin the specified region for distribution of an automatic audioannouncement of the digitized voice alert to all remote electronicdevices in communication with the specific towers in the specifiedregion.

It can be appreciated that in some embodiments, the computer-usablemedium 482 discussed herein can be, for example, an application such asa downloadable software which may be in the form of a downloadableapplication software (“app”) retrieved from a server such as, forexample, server, 231 shown in FIG. 13, and then stored in a memory of auser device such as, for example, remote electronic devices such ascomputer 198, Smartphones 199, 201, Tablet 202, television 203,automobile 204, etc. In other embodiments, the computer-usable medium482 may be a computer chip or other electronic module that can actuallybe incorporated into or added to a remote electronic devices such ascomputer 198, Smartphones 199, 201, Tablet 202, television 203,automobile 204, etc., either during manufacture or as after-market typemodules.

FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium 490that can store code 484 representing instructions to cause a processorto perform a process to, for example, provide automatic and instantvoice alerts to remote electronic devices, in accordance with anembodiment. The code 484 can comprise code (e.g., module or group ofmodules) to perform the instructions of, for example, method 400including code to detect an activity utilizing one or more sensors;generate and convert a text message indicative of the activity into adigitized voice alert; and transmit the digitized voice alert through anetwork (e.g., network 501 shown in FIG. 13) for broadcast to one ormore remote electronic devices that communicate with the network for anautomatic audio announcement of the digitized voice alert through theone or more remote electronic devices.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium 492that can store code representing instructions to cause a processor to,for example, perform a process to provide automatic and instant voicealerts to remote electronic devices from incidents detected within asecurity system, in accordance with an embodiment. Such a code cancomprise code 484 (e.g., module or group of modules, etc.) to performthe instructions of method 420 such as, for example, to provide awireless data network including one or more sensors in communicationwith the wireless data network within a location such as a residence,building, business, government facility, etc; detect an activityutilizing one or more sensors associated with the location; generate andconvert a text message indicative of the activity into a digitized voicealert; and transmit the digitized voice alert through a network (e.g.,network 501 shown in FIG. 13) for broadcast to one or more remoteelectronic devices that communicate with the network for an automaticaudio announcement of the digitized voice alert through the one or moreremote electronic devices.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium 494that can store code representing instructions to cause a processor toperform, for example, a process to automatically provide instantemergency voice alerts to wireless hand held device users in a specifiedregion, in accordance with an embodiment. Such a code 484 (e.g. amodule) can comprise code to perform the instructions of, for example,method 440 including code to determine an emergency situation affectinga specified region and requiring emergency notification of the emergencyto wireless hand held device users in the specified region; generate andconvert a text message indicative of the emergency situation into adigitized voice alert; and transmit the digitized voice alert throughspecific towers of a cellular communications network in the specifiedregion for distribution of an automatic audio announcement of thedigitized voice alert to all remote electronic devices in communicationwith the specific towers in the specified region.

It can be appreciated that in some embodiments, the processor-readablemedia 490, 492 and 494 discussed herein can be, for example, anapplication such as a downloadable software which may be in the form ofa downloadable application software (“app”) retrieved from a server suchas, for example, server, 231 shown in FIG. 13, and then stored in amemory of a user device such as, for example, remote electronic devicessuch as computer 198, Smartphones 199, 201, Tablet 202, television 203,automobile 204, etc. In other embodiments, the processor-readable media490, 492, 494, etc., may each be provided as a computer chip or otherelectronic module that can actually be incorporated into or added toremote electronic devices such as computer 198, Smartphones 199, 201,Tablet 202, television 203, automobile 204, etc., either duringmanufacture or as after-market type modules.

FIG. 13 illustrates a voice alert system 500 that can be implemented inaccordance with the disclosed embodiments. It can be appreciated thatone or more of the disclosed embodiments can be utilized to implementvarious aspects of system 500 shown in FIG. 13. System 500 generallyincludes a network 501 that can communicate with one or more of theremote electronic devices such as computer 198, Smartphones 199, 201,etc., tablet computing device 202, a television 203, an automobile 204,etc. One or more servers, such as server 231, can also communicate withnetwork 501. The database 230 (and other databases) can communicate with(via a network connection or other communication means with server 231)or is preferably stored in a memory of serer 231. It can be appreciatedthat server 231 may be a standalone computer server or may be composedof multiple servers that communicate with one another and with network501. Also, in some embodiments sever 231 of FIG. 13 and server 205 ofFIG. 1 may actually be the same server/computer, depending upon designconsiderations and goals.

Additionally, one or more sensors 512 located in, for example, aresidence 511, can communicate with the network 501 individually or maybe interlinked with one another in the context of a home based network(e.g., a Wireless LAN) that communicates with the network 501.Similarly, one or more sensors 514 can be located at key positionswithin a building 513. Such sensors 514 may be interlinked with oneanother or communicate with individually with the network 513 eitherdirectly or via a network located in a building 513 such as a WirelessLAN. In some cases, the one or more sensors 512 can communicate with anintelligent router 233 via, for example, a WLAN. The communicationsarrows 237 and 239 shown in FIG. 13 represent, for example, wirelesscommunications (e.g., a WLAN or other appropriate wireless network)means or a direct (e.g., Ethernet) communications means, depending onparticular implementations. The one or more sensors 514 can alsocommunicate with an intelligent router 235 via communications means 239,similar to the communications configuration involving the intelligentrouter 233, one or more sensors 512, and communications means 237.Although not specifically shown in FIG. 13, it can be appreciated thateach of the intelligent routers 233 and/or 235 can also communicate withthe network 501. In some cases, for example, server 231 (or otherservers in communications with network 501) can function as anintelligent router, depending upon design considerations.

A variety of enterprises, business, government agencies, and so forthcan also communicate with network 501. For example, local or stateemergency services 510 (e.g., Fire Department, Police Department, etc.)can communicate with network 501. A Homeland Security Agency 502 (e.g.,including FEMA, etc.) can also communicate with network 501. A 911Organization 504 can additionally communicate with network 501. Amilitary organization (U.S. Air force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Departmentof Defense, etc.) can also communicate with network 501. Additionally, asecurity monitoring enterprise 508 (e.g., Sonitrol, Brinks, etc.) canalso communicate with network 501. In some embodiments, the securitymonitoring enterprise 508 may monitor house 511 and/or building 513respectively via one or more sensors 512 and/or 514, depending upon theimplemented embodiment.

Network 501 can be, for example, a network such as the Internet, whichis the well-known global system of interconnected computer networks thatuse the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions ofusers worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of millionsof private, public, academic, business, and government networks, oflocal to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic,wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries avast range of information resources and services such as theinter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and theinfrastructure to support electronic mail.

Network 501 can also be, for example, a wireless communications networksuch as, for example, a cellular communications network. A cellularcommunications network is a radio network distributed over land areascalled cells, each served by one or more fixed-location transceiversknown as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cellsprovide radio coverage over a wide geographic area. This enables a largenumber of portable transceivers (e.g., mobile phones, pagers, etc.) tocommunicate with each other and with fixed transceivers and telephonesanywhere in the network, via base stations, even if some of thetransceivers are moving through more than one cell during transmission.In some embodiments, such as a limited geographical area, network 501may be implemented as a WiFi network such as, for example, an IEEE802.11 type network, WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network, etc.), so-calledSuper Wi-Fi, coined by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)to describe proposed networking in the UHF TV band in the US, and soforth.

Network 501 can also be configured to operate as, for example, a PLAN(Personal Localized Alert Network) for the transmission of localemergency services, Amber alerts, Presidential messages, governmentnotices, etc. Assuming network 501 is either configured a PLAN orequipped with PLAN capabilities, authorized government officials canutilize network 501 as a PLAN to send emergency text messages toparticipating wireless companies, which will then use their cell towersto forward the messages to subscribers in the affected area. Such textmessages can be converted to synthesize voice/speech via, for example,text-to-speech engine 225 either before being sent through the network501 or via a server such as server 231 (and/or other services) or viathe receiving remote electronic device such as, for example, remoteelectronic devices 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, etc., that communicatewith the network 501.

A variety of different types of text message alerts can be generated andconverted to synthesized speech (e.g., “natural” voice) as indicatedherein. Most security system sensors provide a simple switched outputthat changes state, and that's based on whether the sensor has beentripped or not, which means that when connected up in a circuit theybehave just like a switch that is activated automatically, and thatmakes them extremely easy to connect in the same (text to speech)technology. Below is a sampling of “Instant Voiced Alerts” that can besent directly to a remote electronic device such as, for example,smartphone, computer, iPad and/or to a security center (e.g., securitymonitoring 508) or directly to their security patrol car.

Home: “Activity has just been detected behind your back kitchen door.”Warehouse: “Motion has been detected in Area 4. Camera has now beentriggered for recording.”

Bank: “Wired Sensor 3 has lost its signal. Parking Entrance has now beenpermanently disarmed.”

School: “Campus Motion Detector has just been triggered outside thewindows of the Female Lounge Area.”

Restaurant: “Freezer Window Alarm has triggered. Please call ADT HomeSecurity 505-717-0000 if accidental.”

Airport: “Infra-red beam on incoming oversized baggage belt 8 has beenbroken and then manually reset.”

Police: “Danger: Road Closing Alert for Bryn Mawr Drive between SilverAvenue and Coal Avenue.”

Public Service: “Skywarn Alert—Tornado has moved east toward Albuquerqueand stalled over the area. Winds 40 mph.”

Hospital: “Smoke is being detected in the Seniors Ward. Automatic alarmhas not sounded.”

Medical: “This is your Medical Monitoring System informing you that helpis on the way.”

Military: “Kirkland underground weapons sensors not complying withcommands from the 377th Air Base Wing.”

Retail: “EAS merchandise tag #Slk221 on Armani Suit has not beendeactivated.”

Airline/Travel: “Jet Blue Air Flight 355 JFK to Burbank has JUST arrivedAT four twenty seven pm BAGGAGE CLAIM 3.”

The transmission of the voice alerts can be rendered in, for example, adozen languages and also different voices. In context of an automobilescenario, for example, once the alert is routed to, for example, aBluetooth® application (e.g., a Bluetooth® connection), it connects tothe user's remote electronic device (e.g., Smartphone) to a stereo ofthe automobile for playing of the voice alert. In the same automobilescenario and accessing a PLAN network as described earlier herein, if auser/driver is driving in the event of, for example, a nationalemergency in which the President of the United States addresses thenation, the Bluetooth® connection in the automobile would allow theuser/driver to instantly hear the President and also in someembodiments, in consecutive multiple languages and without visuallydistracting the user/driver while the user/driver continues to operatehis or her automobile.

In general, it can be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments,including the methods, systems and processor-readable media discussedherein, when implemented, will vocalize, for example, regional,national, government, presidential, and other alerts instantly andautomatically and various languages which would automatically follow thebase language (e.g., English) utterance.

FIG. 14 illustrates a high-level flow chart of logical operations of amethod 401 for providing automatic and instant digitized voice alerts,and converting such digitized voice alerts into more than one languagefor broadcast of the digitized voice alert in consecutively differentlanguages through one or more remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment. Note that the operational steps shown in FIG. 14 aresimilar to those depicted in FIG. 4, except for differences shown atblocks 411 and 413. That is, assuming it is determined to convert thedigitized voice alert into other languages, an operation can beimplemented, as indicated at block 411, to convert the digitized voicealert into multiple languages (e.g., English to Spanish, Italian,Vietnamese, etc.).

Then, as indicated at block 413, the voice alert can be instantlybroadcast consecutively in different languages (e.g., English followedby Spanish, Italian, Vietnamese, and then back to English again). Thus,a loop of voice alerts in different languages can be provided. In someembodiments, a live utterance can be instantly converted into adigitized voice alert for automatic delivery in a selected series oflanguages following the base language (e.g., English). The combineddigitized voice alert can then be instantly transmitted through, forexample, network 501 for broadcast through one or more of the remoteelectronic devices 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, etc.

Note that the transmission of text messages and text-to-speechconversion is one approach for broadcasting voice alerts. Anotherapproach and thus another embodiment, involves alert messages (e.g., alive speech or live announcement) sent directly from a phone call. Forexample, in the case of a national emergency or national announcement,the President can speak directly into a telephone (e.g., cell phone,landline, Internet Telephony based phone, etc.) and speak an utteranceor announcement such as “This is a national emergency”. The voice of thePresident can thus be captured and converted into a digitized voicealert (e.g., a wave file or other audio file) and then transmittedthrough, for example, network 501 to one or more of devices 198, 199,201, 202, 203, 204, etc.

FIG. 15 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method 530 for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment. The methodology shown in FIG. 15 does not utilizetext-to-speech conversion, but actually relies on the original livevoice/utterance itself. In general, a speaker (e.g., the President)speaks directly into a voice capturing device such as, for example, acell phone, landline phone, etc., as indicated at block 536. Then, asillustrated at block 538, the voice of the speaker (e.g., a liveannouncement) is captured. Thereafter, as shown at block 540, thecaptured utterance (e.g., live announcement) is automatically convertedinto a digitized voice message that is indicative of the liveannouncement (e.g., a digital audio recording of the live announcement)in response to capturing the live announcement.

Next, as depicted at block 542, the digitized voice message of thecaptured utterance) is associated with a text message, which may or maynot contain text. In some embodiments, the digitized voice message canbe attached to the text message or may be bundled with the text message.Thereafter, as described at block 544, the digitized voice message canbe automatically transmitted through network 501 to one or more remoteelectronic devices such as devices 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, etc.,that communicate with the network 501. Then, as shown at block 546, atest can be performed to automatically confirm if the text message(which includes the digitized voice message) has been received at adevice such as one or more of devices 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, etc.

Such a test can include, in some embodiments, automatically detectingheader information (e.g., packet header) to determine point of originand point of transmission (e.g., the remote electronic device) to assistin determining if the text message (with digitized voice messageattached) is received at the device. If so, then the process continues,as indicated at block 550. If not, a test is determined whether or notto transmit again or “try again” as shown at block 542, and theoperation repeated. Assuming, it is determined not to “try again” (e.g.,after a certain amount of time or a certain amount of repeattransmissions), the process can then terminate, as described at block556. Assuming, however, that the answer is “Yes” in response to the testindicated at block 546 and it is confirmed that the text message isreceived at the device, then as depicted at block 550, the digitizedvoice message associated with and/or attached to the text message isautomatically opened and then as indicated at block 554, the digitizedvoice message is automatically played (e.g., via a speaker) via thedevice. The process can then terminate, as shown as block 556.

Thus, the text message (with the attached/associated digitized voicemessage) can be transmitted with the digitized voice message throughnetwork 501 for broadcast to the one or more electronic devices forautomatic playback of the digitized voice message through the one ormore remote electronic device upon receipt of the text message with thedigitized voice message at the device(s).

FIG. 16 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method 531 for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment. Note that the method 531 shown in FIG. 16 is similarto the method 530 depicted in FIG. 15, the difference being in theaddition of a test to determine if a call (e.g., phone call) or otheractivity is in progress at the device at the time of receipt of the textmessage (with its attached/associated digitized voice message). If acall is in progress, as shown at block 548, then as indicated at block549, the call can be interrupted and the text message with itsattached/associated digitized voice message (e.g., announcement from thePresident) pushed ahead of the current call to allow the digitized voicemessage to be automatically opened via the device, as shown at block550. Assuming a call is not in progress, then as indicated at blocks 548and 550, the digital voice message (e.g., vocal utterance) isautomatically opened via the remote electronic device. Thereafter, thedigitized voice message can be automatically played, as indicated atblock 554, via the device and in the case of an interrupted call, takesprecedence over the interrupted call. Thus, the operations shown in FIG.16 allow for an automatic interruption of a current call in each remoteelectronic device in order to push the text message with the digitizedvoice message through to each remote electronic device for automaticplayback of the digitized voice message.

The digitized voice message can in some embodiments be automaticallyopened in response to receipt of the text message with the digitizedvoice message at the one or more remote electronic devices, andautomatically played through respective speakers associated with eachremote electronic device in response to automatically opening thedigitized voice message. In other embodiments, the identity of thespeaker (e.g., the President) associated with the live announcement canbe authenticated via, for example, the voice recognition engine 220shown in FIG. 1, prior to automatically converting the live announcementinto the digitized voice message indicative of the live announcement.

FIG. 17 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method 533 for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment. Note that the methodology of FIG. 17 is similar tothat of FIGS. 15-16, the difference being that that method 533 of FIG.17 does not utilize a text message transmission. Instead, in method 533,the original voice announcement or utterance is captured and configuredin a digitized voice alert format and transmitted and pushed through vianetwork 501 to devices 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, etc.

FIG. 18 illustrates a high-level flow chart of operations depictinglogical operations of a method 535 for providing an instant voiceannouncement automatically to remote electronic devices, in accordancewith an embodiment. The methodology of FIG. 18 is similar to that ofFIGS. 15-17, the difference being that the method 535 shown in FIG. 18includes a language conversion and broadcast feature, as indicated byblocks 547 and 551. This is similar to the language features discussedearlier herein. Note that the actual language conversion can take placeat the mobile device via, for example, a language conversion module, ormay take place earlier in the process prior to transmission of the liveannouncement but after capturing the announcement or utterance from thespeaker.

FIG. 19 illustrates a block diagram of a system 560 for providing aninstant voice announcement automatically to remote electronic devices,in accordance with an embodiment. System 560 generally includes aprocessor 480 and a data bus 481 coupled to the processor 480. System560 can also include a computer-usable medium 482 embodying computercode 484 (or a module or group of modules). The computer-usable medium482 is generally coupled to the data bus 481, and the computer programcode 484 comprises instructions executable by the processor 480 andconfigured for performing the instructions/operations of, for example,methods 401, 530, 531, 533 and/or 535 respectfully illustrated anddiscussed hereinwith respect to FIGS. 14-18.

In some embodiments, the computer-program code 484 of FIG. 19 cancomprise instructions executable by processor 480 and configured forcapturing a live announcement; automatically converting the liveannouncement into a digitized voice message indicative of the liveannouncement, in response to capturing the live announcement;associating the digitized voice message with a text message to betransmitted through network 501 to a plurality of remote electronicdevices that communicate with the network 501; and transmitting the textmessage with the digitized voice message through network 501 forbroadcast to the plurality of electronic devices for automatic playbackof the digitized voice message through at least one remote electronicdevice among the plurality of remote electronic devices upon receipt ofthe text message with the digitized voice message at the at least oneremote electronic device among the plurality of remote electronicdevices.

In other embodiments, the code 484 may comprise instructions configuredfor automatically interrupting a current call in each remote electronicdevice among the plurality of remote electronic devices in order to pushthe text message with the digitized voice message through to each of theplurality of remote electronic devices for automatic playback of thedigitized voice message via the plurality of remote electronic devices.In other embodiments, the code 484 may comprise instructions forautomatically opening the digitized voice message in response to receiptof the text message with the digitized voice message at the at least oneremote electronic device among the plurality of remote electronicdevices; and automatically playing the digitized voice message through aspeaker associated with the at least one remote electronic device inresponse to automatically opening the digitized voice message.

In yet other embodiments, the code 484 may comprise instructionsconfigured for authenticating an identity of a speaker associated withthe live announcement prior to automatically converting the liveannouncement into the digitized voice message indicative of the liveannouncement. Authentication may occur, for example, automaticallyutilizing a voice recognition engine.

In still other embodiments, instructions of the code 484 can be furtherconfigured for broadcasting the digitized voice message through the atleast one remote electronic device in at least one language based on alanguage setting in a user profile. In yet other embodiments,instructions of the code 484 can be further configured for pre-selectingthe at least one language in the user profile. In other embodiments,instructions of the code 484 can be configured for establishing the userprofile as a user preference via a server during a set up of the atleast one remote electronic device. Additionally, in other embodiments,instructions of the code 484 can be configured for establishing the userprofile as a user preference via an intelligent router during a set upof the at least one remote electronic device. In still otherembodiments, the code 484 can include instructions configured during aset up of the at least one remote electronic device for selecting the atleast one language from a plurality of different languages. In otherembodiments, the code 484 can include instructions configure forconverting the digitized voice message into more than one language fromamong a plurality of languages for broadcast of the digitized voicealert in consecutively different languages through the at least oneremote electronic device.

FIG. 20 illustrates a block diagram of a processor-readable medium 562for providing an instant voice announcement automatically to remoteelectronic devices, in accordance with an embodiment. Processor-readablemedium 562 can store code representing instructions to cause theprocessor 480 to perform a process to automatically provide an instantvoice announcement to remote electronic devices. The code 484 cancomprise code to implement the instructions/operations of, for example,methods 401, 530, 531, 533 and/or 535 respectfully illustrated anddiscussed herein with respect to FIGS. 14-18.

Such a code 484 (or a module or group modules, routines, subroutines,etc.) can comprise code to, for example, capture a live announcement,automatically convert the live announcement into a digitized voicemessage indicative of the live announcement in response to capturing thelive announcement; associate the digitized voice message with a textmessage to be transmitted through network 501 to a plurality of remoteelectronic devices that communicate with the network; and transmit thetext message with the digitized voice message through network 501 forbroadcast to the plurality of electronic devices for automatic playbackof the digitized voice message through at least one remote electronicdevice among the plurality of remote electronic devices upon receipt ofthe text message with the digitized voice message at the at least oneremote electronic device among the plurality of remote electronicdevices.

In some embodiments, such a code 484 can further comprise code toautomatically interrupt a current call in each remote electronic deviceamong the plurality of remote electronic devices in order to push thetext message with the digitized voice message through to each of theplurality of remote electronic devices for automatic playback of thedigitized voice message via the plurality of remote electronic devices.In other embodiments, such a code 484 can comprise code to automaticallyopen the digitized voice message in response to receipt of the textmessage with the digitized voice message at the at least one remoteelectronic device among the plurality of remote electronic devices; andautomatically play the digitized voice message through a speakerassociated with the at least one remote electronic device in response toautomatically opening the digitized voice message.

The code 484 can also in some embodiments comprise code to authenticatean identity of a speaker associated with the live announcement prior toautomatically converting the live announcement into the digitized voicemessage indicative of the live announcement. In other embodiments, thecode 484 can comprise code to authenticate the identity of the speakerfurther utilizing a voice recognition engine. In other embodiments, thecode 484 can comprise code to broadcast the digitized voice messagethrough the at least one remote electronic device in at least onelanguage based on a language setting in a user profile. In still otherembodiments, the code 484 can comprise code to pre-select the at leastone language in the user profile, and/or to establish the user profileas a user preference via a server during a set up of the at least oneremote electronic device, and/or to establish the user profile as a userpreference via an intelligent router during a set up of the at least oneremote electronic device. In yet other embodiments, the code 484 cancomprise code during a set up of the at least one remote electronicdevice, to select the at least one language from a plurality ofdifferent languages. In yet other embodiments, the code 484 can comprisecode to convert the digitized voice message into more than one languagefrom among a plurality of languages for broadcast of the digitized voicealert in consecutively different languages through the at least oneremote electronic device.

Referring now to FIG. 21, an exemplary data processing system 600 may beincluded in devices operating in accordance with some embodiments. Asillustrated, the data processing system 600 generally includes aprocessor 480, a memory 636, and input/output circuits 646. The dataprocessing system 600 may be incorporated in, for example, the personalor laptop computer 198, portable wireless hand held devices (e.g.,Smartphone, etc) 199, 201, 202, television 203, automobile 204, or arouter, server, or the like. An example of such a server is, forexample, server 205 shown in FIG. 1, server 231 shown in FIG. 13, and soforth.

The processor 480 can communicate with the memory 636 via anaddress/data bus 648 and can communicate with the input/output circuits646 via, for example, an address/data bus 649. The input/output circuits646 can be used to transfer information between the memory 636 andanother computer system or a network using, for example, an InternetProtocol (IP) connection and/or wireless or wired communications. Thesecomponents may be conventional components such as those used in manyconventional data processing systems, which may be configured to operateas described herein.

Note that the processor 480 can be any commercially available or custommicroprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor or the like.The memory 636 may include any memory devices containing the softwareand data used to implement the functionality circuits or modules used inaccordance with embodiments of the present invention. The memory 636 caninclude, for example, but is not limited to, the following types ofdevices: cache, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, SRAM, DRAM andmagnetic disk. In some embodiments of the present invention, the memory636 may be, for example, a content addressable memory (CAM).

As further illustrated in FIG. 21, the memory 636 may include severalcategories of software and data used in the data processing system 600:an operating system 652; application programs 654; input/output devicedrivers 658; and data 656. As will be appreciated by those skilled inthe art, the operating system 652 may be any operating system suitablefor use with a data processing system such as, for example, Linux,Windows XP, Mac OS, Unix, operating systems for Smartphones, tabletdevices, etc. The input/output device drivers 658 typically includesoftware routines accessed through the operating system 652 by theapplication programs 654 to communicate with devices such as theinput/output circuits 646 and certain memory 636 components. Theapplication programs 654 are illustrative of the programs that implementthe various features of the circuits and modules according to someembodiments of the present invention. The data 656 represents static anddynamic data that can be used by the application programs 654, theoperating system 652, the input/output device drivers 658, and othersoftware programs that may reside in the memory 636. As illustrated inFIG. 21, the data 656 may include, for example, user profile data 628and other information 630 for use by the circuits and modules of theapplication programs 654 according to some embodiments of the presentinvention as discussed further herein.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 21, applications programs 654 caninclude, for example, one or more modules 622, 624, 626, etc. While thepresent invention is illustrated with reference to the modules 622, 624,626, etc., being application programs in FIG. 21, as will be appreciatedby those skilled in the art, other configurations fall within the scopeof the disclosed embodiments. For example, rather than being applicationprograms 654, these modules may also be incorporated into the operatingsystem 652 or other such logical division of the data processing system600. Modules 622, 624, 626 can include instructions/code and/orprocessor-readable media for performing the variousoperations/instructions and methods discussed herein. Thus, for example,modules 622, 624 and/or 626, etc., can be utilized to store theinstructions of, for example, the methods and processes shown in FIGS.1-2, 4-12 and 15-18, depending upon design considerations.

Furthermore, while modules 622, 624, and 626 are illustrated in a singledata processing system, as will be appreciated by those skilled in theart, such functionality may be distributed across one or more dataprocessing systems. Thus, the disclosed embodiments should not beconstrued as limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 21, butmay be provided by other arrangements and/or divisions of functionsbetween data processing systems. For example, although FIG. 21 isillustrated as having various circuits/modules, one or more of thesecircuits may be combined without departing from the scope of theembodiments, preferred or alternative.

Note that as discussed earlier herein the term “module” generally refersto a collection or routines (and/or subroutines) and/or data structuresthat perform a particular task or implements a particular abstract datatype. Modules usually include two parts: an interface, which lists theconstants, data types, variables, and routines that can be accessed byother modules or routines, and an implementation, which is typically,but not always, private (accessible only to the module) and whichcontains the source code that actually implements the routines in themodule. The term “module” may also refer to a self-contained componentthat can provide a complete function to a system and can be interchangedwith other modules that perform similar functions.

Referring now to FIG. 22, an exemplary environment 705 for operationsand devices according to some embodiments of the present invention willbe discussed. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the environment 705 may includea communication/computing device 710, the data communications network501 as discussed earlier, a first server 740, and a second server 745.It can be appreciated that additional servers may be utilized withrespect to network 501. It can also be appreciated that in someembodiments, only a single server such as server 740 may be required.Note that servers 745 and 740 shown in FIG. 22 are analogous or similarto sever 205 shown in FIG. 1 and server 231 depicted in FIG. 13.Similarly, databases 730 and 735 are analogous or similar to database230 shown in FIGS. 1 and 13, etc. In general, the communication device710 allows a user of the communication device 710 to communicate viabi-directional communication with one or more servers 740, 745, 205,231, etc., over the data communication network 501.

As illustrated, the communication device 710 depicted in FIG. 22 mayinclude one or more modules 622, 624, 626, etc., or system 600 accordingto some embodiments. For example, the application programs 654 discussedabove with respect to FIG. 21 can be included system 600 of thecommunication device 710. The communication device 710 may be, forexample, devices such as devices 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, etc.,that communicate with network 501.

The communication device 710 can include, for example, a user interface744 and/or a web browser 715 that may be accessible through the userinterface 744, according to some embodiments. The first server 740 mayinclude a database 730 and the second server 745 may include a database735. The communication device 710 may communicate over the network 501,for example, the Internet through a wireless communications link, anEthernet connection, a telephone line, a digital subscriber link (DSL),a broadband cable link, cellular communications means or other wirelesslinks, etc. The first and second servers 740 and 745 may alsocommunicate over the network 501. Thus, the network 501 may convey databetween the communication device 710 and the first and second servers740 and 745.

The various embodiments of methods, systems, processor-readable media,etc., that are described herein can be utilized in the context of thePLAN system discussed above. In general, authorized national, state orlocal government officials can send alerts to PLAN. PLAN authenticatesthe alert, verifies that the sender is authorized, and then PLAN sendsthe alert to participating wireless carriers. Participating wirelesscarriers push the alerts from, for example, cell towers to mobiletelephones and other mobile electronic devices in the affected area. Thealerts appear similar to text messages on mobile devices. Such“text-like messages” are geographically targeted. For example, acustomer living in downtown New York would not receive a threat alert ifthey happen to be in Chicago when the alert is sent. Similarly, someonevisiting downtown New York from Chicago on that same day would receivethe alert. Users can receive three types of alerts from PLAN includingalerts issued by the President, alerts involving imminent threats tosafety of life, and Amber alerts. The approach described herein,however, if adapted to PLAN, would allow for actual voice alerts (e.g.,digitized voice alert from the President, which the public wouldrecognize) to be pushed through to mobile devices in communication with,for example, network 501. Additionally, as indicated earlier, suchmessages can be transmitted in different languages or in differentsequences of languages. The digitized voice alert of an announcementfrom the President, for example, can be automatically converted into oneor more other languages.

Note that the various methods, systems and processor-readable mediadiscussed herein can be implemented in the context of, for example, pushtechnology such as, for example, instant push notification. Pushtechnology, also known as server push, describes a style ofInternet-based communication where the request for a given transactionis initiated by the publisher or central server. It is contrasted withpull technology, where the request for the transmission of informationis initiated by the receiver or client.

Synchronous conferencing and instant messaging are typical examples ofpush services. Chat messages and sometimes files are pushed to the useras soon as they are received by the messaging service. Bothdecentralized peer-to-peer programs (such as WASTE) and centralizedprograms (such as IRC or XMPP) allow pushing files, which means thesender initiates the data transfer rather than the recipient.

Email is also a type of push system: the SMTP protocol on which it isbased is a push protocol (see Push e-mail). However, the last step, frommail server to desktop computer, typically uses a pull protocol likePOP3 or IMAP. Modern e-mail clients make this step seem instantaneous byrepeatedly polling the mail server, frequently checking it for new mail.The IMAP protocol includes the IDLE command, which allows the server totell the client when new messages arrive. The original BlackBerry wasthe first popular example of push technology for email in a wirelesscontext.

Another popular type of Internet push technology was PointCast Network,which gained popularity in the 1990s. It delivered news and stock marketdata. Both Netscape and Microsoft integrated it into their software atthe height of the browser wars, but it later faded away and was replacedin the 2000s with RSS (a pull technology). Other uses are push enabledweb applications including market data distribution (stock tickers),online chat/messaging systems (webchat), auctions, online betting andgaming, sport results, monitoring consoles, and sensor networkmonitoring.

One example of an instant push notification technology that can beadapted for use in accordance with one or more embodiments is disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 7,899,476 entitled, “Method for Processing PushNotification in Multimedia Message Service” which issued to Cheng et al.on Mar. 1, 2011 and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.Another example of an instant push notification technology that can beadapted for use in accordance with one or more embodiments is disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 7,890,586 entitled “Mass Multimedia Messaging,” whichissued to McNamara et al. on Feb. 15, 2011 and is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. A further example of an instant pushnotification technology is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,162 entitled“Real Time Push Notification in an Even Driven Network,” which issued toAtul Saini on Nov. 10, 2009 and is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety.

It will be understood that the circuits and other means supported byeach block and combinations of blocks can be implemented by specialpurpose hardware, software or firmware operating on special orgeneral-purpose data processors, or combinations thereof. It should alsobe noted that, in some alternative implementations, the operations notedin the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the figures. Forexample, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executedsubstantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed inthe reverse order, or the varying embodiments described herein can becombined with one another or portions of such embodiments can becombined with portions of other embodiments in another embodiment.

It will be appreciated that variations of the above-disclosed and otherfeatures and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirablycombined into many other different systems or applications. Also, thatvarious presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives,modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequentlymade by those skilled in the art which are also intended to beencompassed by the following claims.

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 21. A system for automatically providing instant voice alertsto remote electronic devices, the system comprising: a processor; a databus coupled to said processor; and a computer-usable medium embodyingcomputer code, said computer-usable medium being coupled to said databus, said computer program code comprising instructions executable bysaid processor and configured for: registering remote electronic devicesto receive notifications via wireless data communications networks froma monitoring system including data files comprising digitized voicealerts; generating and converting a text message indicative of anactivity into a data file to be rendered on a remote electronic deviceas a digitized voice alert, wherein the activity comprises an activitydetected at a premises utilizing at least one sensor via a monitoringsystem also located at the premises and connected to a packetized datanetwork; and transmitting the data file through the packetized datanetwork for receipt by at least one remote electronic device that isregistered to communicate remotely with the monitoring system and toreceive messages over the packetized data network for rendering of thedigitized voice alert from the data file and that communicates with thedata network via wireless data communications, wherein the data file isprocessed at the at least one remote electronic device for an automaticaudio announcement of the digitized voice alert through the at least oneremote electronic device.
 22. The system of claim 21 wherein the atleast one sensor communicates wirelessly with at least one of themonitoring system, an intelligent router, and a server that in turncommunicates with the data network.
 23. The system of claim 21 whereinthe at least one sensor comprises a security sensor.
 24. The system ofclaim 21 wherein the at least one sensor comprises a surveillancesensor.
 25. The system of claim 21 wherein the at least one sensorcomprises a smoke detector.
 26. The system of claim 21 wherein the atleast one sensor comprises a fire detector.
 27. The system of claim 21wherein the at least one sensor comprises a carbon monoxide detector.28. The system of claim 21 wherein the at least one sensor comprises anenergy usage monitoring sensor.
 29. The system of claim 21 wherein theat least one sensor comprises a door opening sensor.
 30. The system ofclaim 21 wherein the at least one sensor comprises a window openingsensor.
 31. The system of claim 21 wherein the at least one sensorcomprises a flood sensor.
 32. The system of claim 21 wherein the atleast one of sensor includes: a security sensor, a surveillance sensor,a smoke detector, a fire detector, a carbon monoxide detector, an energyusage monitoring sensor, a door or window opening sensor, a floodsensor, and communicates with an intelligent router that communicateswith the packetized data network.
 33. The system of claim 21 wherein theat least one sensor includes at least one of: a security sensor, asurveillance sensor, a smoke detector, a fire detector, a carbonmonoxide detector, an energy usage monitoring sensor, a door or windowopening sensor, a flood sensor, and communicates with the at least oneremote electronic device through the packetized data network.
 34. Thesystem of claim 21 wherein the instructions are further configured forbroadcasting the digitized voice message through the at least one remoteelectronic device in at least one language based on a language settingin a user profile.
 35. The system of claim 21 further comprisingallowing a pre-selection of the at least one language in the userprofile.
 36. The system of claim 21 wherein the instructions are furtherconfigured for detecting an activity at a premises utilizing at leastone sensor via a monitoring system also located at the premises andconnected to a packetized data network.
 37. The system of claim 21wherein the packetized data network comprises a wireless communicationsnetwork.